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US Pharma Industry Hit With Opioid Lawsuits

Billions of dollars are at stake in a blizzard of lawsuits over opioids.

The city of Brunswick, Ohio has joined hundreds of other jurisdictions across the United States to file a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical companies that make opioids. The epidemic of addiction has caused an extraordinary number of fatalities. We hear from Dr Richard Blondell, Professor of Family Medicine at the University at Buffalo in upstate New York and we also get the view of the man charged with overseeing the plethora of lawsuits against the opioid makers - District Judge Dan Polster of Cleveland, Ohio.A top executive at the motor company Ford is sacked amid allegations of sexual misconduct. We hear more from Keith Hunt, a Chicago-based lawyer who has been handling cases for women who say they've been mistreated on the shop floor of two of Ford's factories in the city. Also in the programme, we have a report from Calais on preparations being made there for new customs rules after Brexit, and Oliver Conger of British manufacturer Rototherm tells us if he worries about changes to customs procedures after Britain leaves the EU. Plus as Britain prepares to celebrate two royal weddings and a birth, our reporter looks at what that will mean for the nation's memorabilia makers.

(Picture: Opioid painkillers, Credit: Getty Images)

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27 minutes

Last on

Thu 22 Feb 2018 22:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Thu 22 Feb 2018 22:32GMT